


The Fineprint

by Lampshadez



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-05 18:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11583993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lampshadez/pseuds/Lampshadez
Summary: Picks up right where 2x07 left off - Wynonna and Waverly need to have a conversation, and it poses more and and bigger questions than it answers.  Maybe the rumor that Jonas mentioned was true, and maybe it hits a bit closer to the Earp home than they'd like to think.  The journey toward answers isn't always a smooth one, and sometimes there are questions you don't want answers to.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a big believer in "Let Wynonna Earp say 'fuck' 2k17" so that sort of language is in here

“What?” Wynonna repeated when she saw that Waverly meant it.  “Why would you say that?  Of course you’re an Earp.”

“I’m not,” Waverly said, for the first time.  She had said that she had heard it and that she maybe believed it, but that was the first time she said it.  She hadn’t said it before because she hadn’t believed it, but things were changing.  Things had changed.  She wasn’t who she was when Bobo told her that those few short months ago, both in terms of what she’d been through since then and what she’d learned.

“Waverly, why are you saying that?” Wynonna asked, standing.

“Bobo told me.”

“ _Bobo_?  Wave-.”

“He told me the last time I saw him,” Waverly said.  “I confronted him in the treehouse where he kept Willa-.”

“You tried to save Willa?”

“I tried to get answers,” Waverly said, a bit too caught up to really engage in the delicate politics that came with discussing Willa with Wynonna.  “I thought if I knew what happened, what he did to her and what she was after, we could save everyone.”

Wynonna looked down for just a second, hearing the answer and not knowing what she expected to hear, but also not knowing what to do with what she did hear. 

“And that’s when he told you you’re not…?”

Waverly nodded.  “He told me I wasn’t an Earp.”

“Waverly, he was fucking with you.  You confronted him, he wanted you off of him-.”

“No,” Waverly said, jaw set.  She meant it.  “He was a class-A shit ticket and an awful, awful person, but he wasn’t a liar.  Not to me.”

Wynonna opened her mouth, but didn’t protest.  She knew that was true.  Bobo was evil, but he got what he wanted through manipulation and power plays, not through lies.  And Wynonna knew she wasn’t around for a whole lot of Waverly’s childhood, but she did know that Bobo always had a connection to her.  It made her sick to think about.

She walked down the stairs.

“So, what?” Wynonna asked.  “Even if you’re not an Earp by blood, you’re still my sister.”

“I know,” Waverly said quickly.  “I know.  We’re sisters, always, no matter what.”

“So, what’s the big deal?” Wynonna asked.  She saw Waverly’s face fall.  “Wait, no, that’s not what I meant.  This is a big deal, I totally get that, but it’s okay!  We’ll figure it out but you’ll always have us.”

Waverly’s lower lip quivered. 

“A little while back,” she began.  “I told Nicole about what Bobo said and she got me applications for birth certificates, medical records, school documents, anything that would help clear this up.”

Wynonna’s eyebrows went up a bit.  “Okay,” she said.  She was now standing in front of Waverly, but Waverly was having trouble looking at her.  “What did they say?”

Waverly took a deep breath.  “My birth certificate is a forgery.”

“What?  How do you know that?”

“Black Badge had access to software that checked the validity of government documents.”

“Black Badge knew you had fake papers?”

“Wynonna, I signed a blood oath with them when I was possessed, if they were really going to come for me they would have before they left town,” Waverly said.

Wynonna cocked her head a bit.  “Good point.”

“I started looking into it,” Waverly said.  “I couldn’t figure out why it was forged, you know?  Like, even if I just wasn’t Ward’s, Mama-.” She cut herself off, tripping a little bit over what words she should use.  “She would’ve still been on it.  Unless I wasn’t hers, either.”

“Waverly…”

“I read Willa’s diary and-.”

“You what?”

“She wrote about hating that they brought me in the house when I was a baby, that there was something wrong with me, that I’ll never be one of you.  She didn’t think I _was_ one of you,” Waverly said.  Tears were flowing steadily, but they were threatening to flow so hard she’d have trouble speaking.  “Wynonna, it seemed like someone just left me here.”

“No,” Wynonna said, shaking her head.  She didn’t understand.  That didn’t make any sense.  Why would someone drop her at the _Earp_ house, of all places?  “No, Waves, I’d remember that.”

“Would you?” Waverly asked, sincerely.  “You were only six.”

Wynonna shook her head some more.  She remembered Waverly as a baby, she did.  She remembered having Waverly as a baby in the house but surely she remembered something before that, something of her – their – mom being pregnant or someone talking about having another baby in the house or something that somehow explained that Waverly wasn’t just left there.

But she couldn’t think of anything.

And the more she thought about it, the more she remembered how sudden it felt.  She didn’t really ever think back on it, but now that she did, Waverly did just sort of show up.  One day there wasn’t a baby in the house, and the next day there was, with no warning.

“I don’t…I don’t know.”

“You know how birth certificates have those signatures on the bottom of, like, important government people?” Waverly asked.  Wynonna nodded.  Waverly took a deep breath.  “The signatures on mine didn’t quite match the name.  They looked close enough to fool someone who didn’t have software, like someone at the Purgatory school system who didn’t think anyone would ever forge a birth certificate out here.  But they weren’t the names of the actual people.”

Wynonna felt dread in her chest.  She thought she’d maybe learned the lesson to not ask questions she didn’t want the answer to, but she was starting to think that maybe that was a lesson that could never really be learned in a practical way.

“Whose names were they?”

Waverly’s jaw clenched.  “Revenants.  Once I figured out what the signatures said, I recognized them from research I did on revenants in Bobo’s inner circle.  Like he wanted to tip someone off, someone who might know what to look for.”

“So…so what?” Wynonna asked.  “What does that mean?”

“I think it means,” Waverly said, feeling sick but also feeling like she needed to say it.  She took a breath.  “Not to steal anyone’s thunder, but I don’t think your baby is the only half-human, half-revenant around.”

Wynonna’s eyes got wide, then narrowed.  Her breathing got sharp.  Her jaw dropped a bit.  She had no idea what to say to that, and no idea what she felt about it.

“Why do you think that?” she managed.  “Why would a revenant drop you at the Earp house?”

Waverly was clenching her jaw so tight she thought it might break.  She felt like the room was spinning.

“Bobo,” Waverly began, avoiding Wynonna’s gaze so she wouldn’t have to see her big sister’s face change at the mention of his name.  “Might’ve thought this was a good place for me because if his plan worked, he knew where I was.”

“Waverly…”

“He kept an eye on me the whole time,” Waverly continued, speaking more quickly and with more urgency as she went on.  She needed to say it, she needed to get the words out and have them be real and have them be out there, that was the only way she was going to be able to deal with it.  “And, I was protected.  This town is crawling with revenants, but I had the Earp heir protecting me.”

“The first thing they did when I came back to town was try to kill you.”

“They used me to get to you,” Waverly countered.  She was pretty set in believing what she believed.  She desperately wanted to be proven wrong, but she didn’t see a way how.

“You think Bobo’s your father?”

Waverly inhaled sharply.  It was one thing to think it, it was another to hear the words out loud.

“Yeah,” she admitted.  “I do.”

“You know there’s no way to prove this.”

“We know it’s possible,” Waverly said.  “You heard Jonas, he said there’s been rumors about another half-human, half-revenant.”

“God, we need a shorter term for that,” Wynonna muttered.  Waverly couldn’t help but nod in agreement.  “But, shit, Waves.  That doesn’t mean it’s you.  I mean, you’ve held Peacemaker.”

“So have you, lately.”  Waverly nodded toward Wynonna’s stomach.

Wynonna sighed.  She couldn’t argue with that.  They weren’t certain Waverly was half-revenant, just as they weren’t certain that Wynonna’s baby was.  But, they had their educated guesses.

“I mean, I know that’s different, but…”

“So, what?” Wynonna said.

“Bobo must’ve had something on one of them, even back then,” Waverly said, referring to their parents.  “To get them to take me.  I don’t think Ward would’ve otherwise.  And I don’t know what else other than Bobo would explain his revenants being on my forged birth certificate, or him watching me for years, or him protecting me from Willa in the tree house.”

“He had to protect you from her?”

“We’ll never know for sure,” Waverly said, ignoring that question.  “But there’s a lot of things we’ll never know for sure.  We can’t bury our heads in the sand on this.”

Wynonna inhaled deeply.  “Are you okay?”  She wrapped her little sister in a hug.

Waverly shrugged.  “I have no idea,” she said honestly, though she felt better leaning on Wynonna’s shoulder.  “The whole not-an-Earp thing really ate at me for a while but this, uh.  This is different.”

“You’re always going to be-.”

“An Earp,” Waverly finished.  “I know.  But so much of that is tied into saving all of humanity from all things revenant, and…”  She trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought, but then it sunk in what she had said.

It sunk in for Wynonna, too.

Waverly jolted upright.

“I, uh,” she said.  “I told Nicole I’d see her tonight.  If you’re okay, I mean, I know you’ve had a pretty big day, too.”

“I’m fine,” Wynonna said.  “But Waverly-.”

“I should go,” Waverly said, pulling back.  “I want to grab her some Gatorade before the store closes.  Poor baby’s going to be _really_ hungover.”

“Waverly, we should,” Wynonna began, not really knowing what the hell to say.  “We should talk!”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Waverly called over her shoulder, grabbing her things and going.

**-WE-**

“Hey, are you down to join me on this case?” Dolls asked, holding up a file and walking up to Wynonna, who had several books open in front of her at a table in Black Badge.  She had a tall stack of files on the table, too.

She looked up, startled, and shuffled papers so that a lot of the text was covered. 

“No, thanks,” she said, trying to look normal but not really nailing it.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, a bit defensive.

Dolls cocked an eyebrow, concerned.  “Okay,” he said.  “Let me know when you’re up to being in the field again.”

“No,” Wynonna said, appreciating him giving her the respect to make that call, but not wanting him to get the wrong idea.  She was, and always was, down to be in the field.  “I just really want to work on this right now.”

Dolls shrugged a bit.  “Okay.”

“Let me know if there’s something you need me for, though,” she said.  “A revenant, or something.  Or just a revenant.  I hunt those, just revenants.”

Dolls squinted at her a bit.  “Okay…”

“How familiar are you with curses?” Wynonna asked.  “Wyatt’s curse, to be exact?”

“About as familiar as you are,” Dolls said, knowing that all the research he’d done had been read and added to by both Wynonna and Waverly.  They all worked on a lot of things, but they kept that file updated as frequently as they came across relevant information, and they all kept themselves updated.

Wynonna knew it’d be a dead end, but she did kind of feel a bit better asking.  She still frowned a bit, though.  “I’m going to be out of the office this afternoon.”

“Okay,” Dolls said.  “Let me know if you need anything.”

Wynonna flashed him a thumbs up and watched him walk away, then got back to her books and files.

**-WE-**

“You’re not going into the office today?” Nicole asked, coming up behind Waverly in Nicole’s living room.

Waverly had files, books, and notes spread over the coffee table and most of the available flat surfaces including the floor and the couch.

Waverly looked up, surprised to see her.

“No,” Waverly said.  “You’re still here?”

“I live here,” Nicole laughed.

“No, I know,” Waverly laughed, then went back to her work.  “I just…I thought you went to work.”

Nicole shook her head.  “Nope.  I’m off today, too.”

“Oh.”

“What is all this?”

“Just curse stuff,” Waverly said, still looking at it and not really looking at Nicole very much.

Nicole nodded.  She looked around.  She didn’t mind Waverly doing work at her place, but it looked like Waverly had been at it for hours.

“Did you even sleep last night, babe?”

“Yeah, a bit,” Waverly said, distracted.  “I think.”

“Waverly, come on, let’s take a break.”

“No, I’m good,” Waverly said.

“I mean, don’t you know the curse pretty inside and out by now?” Nicole asked.  “Your family’s only been dealing with it for generations.”

“I’m not an Earp, Nicole.”

“Waverly…”

“I filled out those applications and got documents back,” Waverly said.  “And I’m…I’m not an Earp.”

“Are-are you okay?” Nicole asked, wanting to sit next to her and talk to her, but not seeing a clear spot to do so.

“Have you ever played a game of Telephone?” Waverly asked.  “You know, when you were a kid?”

“Uh,” Nicole stammered.  “Yeah, sure, I guess.  The thing where one person whispers something to the person next to them and they’re supposed to repeat it to the next person-.”

“And by the time it gets to the last person, it’s nothing like what was first said,” Waverly said.  “We don’t have the curse written down anywhere.  It’s all just been said.”

“Well,” Nicole began, trying for levity.  “I mean, it’s pretty straightforward, right?  The heir has to send the revenants back to hell.”

“Right,” Waverly said.  “But is it only the revenants that are the seventy-seven that Wyatt killed originally?”

“What else is-?” Nicole cut herself off.  “Oh.”  She found a place to sit, because she felt like her legs might give anyway if she didn’t.  “ _Oh_.”

“I need to find something, anything, written down about what exactly the rules of this curse are,” Waverly said.

Nicole nodded in agreement.  “Did you talk to Wynonna about this?”

Waverly nodded slightly.  “It’s…complicated.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Nicole said.  “Is she okay?  Because that’s…shit, Waves, that’s heavy.”

“Yes, Nicole, I know,” Waverly said, somewhat of an impatient edge to her voice.

“Jonas said there might be others,” Nicole said.  “Other half-human, half-revenants.  What about them?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you need help?” Nicole asked.

Waverly shook her head.  “No, thanks.”

“Look, Waverly,” Nicole said gently.  “I know I’m not in Black Badge but this is kind of a special circumstance.  This is really, really big.  I can help.”

“I’m okay, Nicole,” Waverly said, looking up at her girlfriend and offering her what she hoped was a reassuring smile.  “I know you want to keep Black Badge separate from your police work, and I don’t want to cross any more lines with that.”

Nicole’s jaw clenched a bit.  “Okay.  Yeah.  Thanks, I guess.”

“Thank you,” Waverly said.  “For offering.”

Nicole nodded a bit, then stood.  “Alright, well.  All that Gatorade really helped last night, babe, I think I’m upright enough to be able to go get some food.  Chinese?”

“Sure,” Waverly said, already with her head back in files.  “My wallet’s on the table by the door.  Thanks, babe.”

“No problem,” Nicole said, giving her girlfriend one last concerned look before heading out.

**-WE-**

“Okay,” Wynonna said as she drove a route that she’d only driven once before, but felt familiar enough.  “This’ll be simple enough.  We go there, we demand answers, we get them.  She can’t say no, she’s buried up to her eyes in salt.”  She took a deep breath.  “Yeah, there won’t be any problems.  Right?”

She looked out at the road in silence, alone as she drove, for a few moments.

“Damn it, I’m speaking to my truck again.”

She pulled up to the familiar location and got out of the truck.

She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, with the salt flats and the weird winter air and the general weirdness of Purgatory as a place and of her life, but she saw what she saw – nothing.

Constance Clootie’s head wasn’t poking out of the salt.  There was a… _stump_ was the best word Wynonna could think of, though it still made her almost lose her lunch.

Constance had told Wynonna months prior that she knew the details of the curse, that she was there and she knew how to break it.  Wynonna had pushed it from her mind, had told herself that Constance had said it in the moment to get Wynonna to betray Doc.  Once they buried Constance, Wynonna figured she could always come back and get answers if she needed them.

That didn’t appear to be an option anymore.

“Shit,” she said.  “ _Shit_!”

She called Doc and heard it ring, then go to voicemail.

She sent him a text: “Not an emergency, I’m fine, but we need to talk, answer your phone Doc.”

She called again and he answered on the first ring.

“Wyno-.”

“Listen, I know I shouldn’t have let you think something that might not have been true and then also not have told you about it and I am sorry and we will have that conversation later,” Wynonna said quickly, “but we have bigger problems, Doc.  Constance Clootie is dead.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out I'm also team "let Nicole say 'fuck' 2k17" so there's some of that language in here too

Wynonna paced outside her car while she waited for Doc to come.

“How did you know about this?” Doc asked.

“I came out here to ask her about the curse, I found her like this,” Wynonna said. 

“How did this happen?” Doc asked, pissed.

“My guess?” Wynonna asked, leaning over toward Constance to get a better look.  “A literal hatchet job.”

Doc gave her a look.

“Are you okay?” Wynonna continued.  “What does this…what does this mean for you?”

“I do not know,” Doc admitted, hands on his belt, which meant his hands were near his guns, which meant he was uncomfortable. 

“She’s dead and you’re not,” Wynonna said.  “That’s good, right?”

“I certainly think so.”

“I do, too.”

Doc gave her a little bit of an appreciative smile, but didn’t say anything more.

“Doc, listen-.”

“Wynonna, you do not need to apologize,” Doc said.  “I know I said things had changed a lot since my time but we did have situations like this back then, too.”

Wynonna appreciated the sentiment, but still wrinkled her nose a bit.  She was glad Doc understood, but it was still a messy situation.

“Still-,” she tried.

“Wynonna, really,” Doc said.  “I shouldn’t have assumed anything, I could’ve asked.”

“I should’ve told you when I realized you thought it was yours.”

“I still mean it,” Doc said.  “I’m in.  I’m here for you, whatever you need.”

“Doc…”

“Did you hear that Dolls called me his brother the other day?” Doc asked. 

Wynonna’s eyebrows shot up at that.  “No.”

“There’s no use fighting it anymore,” Doc said.  “We are family here.  I’m not going anywhere.”

Wynonna looked him dead in the eyes and knew he meant it.  He had that near-tears edge to his voice that he had the other day, when she almost told that he maybe wasn’t the father.  Doc was all in, maybe in a different way than he originally meant to be, but he still was.

“You don’t have to…” Wynonna said, almost hating herself for saying it.  On some level, she felt she needed to.  She knew she had grown a lot and she had done so, so much good for the people she cared about, and for the town, (and she maybe was starting to be able to admit that there was significant overlap there) but the guilt that she was told to feel for years about being Wynonna Earp sometimes came up again, and this was one of those times.

“I’m here because I want to be,” Doc said.  “We all are.”

Wynonna inhaled deeply.  After a couple moments, she nodded toward Constance.  “She’s not.”

Doc looked at Wynonna for one second longer and sort of smiled to himself, then followed her gaze to Constance.

“Yeah, I reckon not.”

They both walked around her.

“Shit, whose blood is that?” Wynonna asked.

She hadn’t gotten very close to Constance’s body – she could tell from a reasonable distance that the head was gone.  She hadn’t noticed a few drops of blood near the body before.

“It’s not yours?”

“No.”  Wynonna sighed.  “I never told anyone she was out here, but I think we should call Black Badge in on this.”

Doc nodded.  “I agree.  With these other two witches in town, this is suspicious.”

Wynonna looked a bit surprised, but rolled with it.  And, she agreed.  “Alright, I’ll call Dolls.”

“And maybe he can help with whatever you needed to ask Constance about the curse.”

Now Wynonna looked more than a bit surprised.  She shrugged, wanting to brush it off.  “Yeah, maybe.”

She took out her phone and called him.

**-WE-**

“Hey,” Waverly said over dinner at Nicole’s that night.  She had taken a break from research long enough to cook dinner for them, which Nicole appreciated because she was somehow still a bit hungover, and she was glad to see Waverly take a break.  “Would it be alright if I stayed over again tonight?”

Nicole looked a little surprised by the question.  “Uh, sure,” she said.  She meant it, but she didn’t expect Waverly to ask.

“Thanks.”

“Is everything okay, baby?” Nicole asked gently.

Waverly just sort of cocked her head a bit.

“No, of course not,” Nicole said, almost laughing a bit.  “I just…I guess I don’t get why you’re avoiding Wynonna.”

“I’m not avoiding Wynonna.”

Nicole looked like she had something she wanted to say, but wasn’t sure how.  She knew a lot about the Earp sisters, but also knew that they had a complex, deeply rooted dynamic that she was never going to really get.

“I’m not,” Waverly said.  “It’s-.”

“Complicated,” Nicole said.  “Wave, you can talk to me about it, I’m here.”

“I know,” Waverly said, knowing it was true.  And she thought maybe she did want to talk about it, on some level, but she also still felt like she couldn’t.  She knew she’d made progress in being more open with people, but this was something else.  “I just…”

“When you’re ready, babe,” Nicole said.

Waverly smiled slightly and took Nicole’s hand on the table.

“Look, I know the curse is important, but you can’t break it in a night,” Nicole said.  “Take the night off, I’ll run a bath, pop open a bottle of wine…”

Waverly sighed.  “Thank you, baby,” she said.  “I just don’t really feel like myself today.”

“Okay,” Nicole said.  “Well, still.  My bathtub is your bathtub.”

Waverly laughed a bit.  “Thanks, Nicole.  I…I really, really like you.”

She wanted to say it, she did.  But there was so much she wasn’t sure of, there was so much she wanted to protect Nicole from.  Maybe she shouldn’t pull her any closer before she figured things out with herself.

“I really, really like you, too.”

**-WE-**

“Jeremy doesn’t have the blood results in yet?”

“Wynonna, go home,” Dolls said, packing his things.  “The earliest he’ll have them in is the morning.”

“Do we know anything?” Wynonna asked.  “Is it human?  Is it the witches?  A revenant?”

‘It’s human,” Dolls said.  “We’re trying to figure out who, and we don’t have a lot of options.  We don’t exactly have samples of people that we can test it against, and we don’t really have grounds for warrants.”

“So, we’ve got nothing.”

“Not nothing,” Dolls said.  “We’ve got some blood samples from various scenes we’ve come across from our work here.  If it’s from someone we already know, we’ll find them.”

“And if it’s not?”

“We’ll still find them,” Dolls said.  “Come on, there’s nothing else to do tonight.”

“Actually,” Wynonna said, seeing him pack up his things and try to get home for the night (though she wasn’t sure where he was living).  “The Earp curse.  Have you seen it written down anywhere?”

“No,” Dolls said.  “I did research on it before I came here, but you’ve seen it all.”  There was something in his voice, like he thought Wynonna was up to something.  His expression made Wynonna think that he thought she maybe didn’t trust him..

“Right,” Wynonna said.  “Okay, then.  Just thought I’d ask.”

“Did Clootie know something?” Dolls asked.

“She might’ve,” Wynonna admitted. 

Dolls looked at her, concerned.  He knew the curse was important and never far from the Earp girls’ minds, but it seemed to be more on their mind than it usually was.

“We’ll figure it out,” he said, thinking he was maybe catching on to what was happening.  “I know you sort of got thrown in to being the heir without a whole lot of help, but things won’t be like that for…”

He sort of gestured toward her stomach, not quite able to bring himself to say it.

“I mean, it’d be nice if we could break the curse sometime before twenty-seven years from now,” Wynonna said.  “But, thank you,” she said sincerely.

“Right, of course,” Dolls said.  “Either way, this kid,” he got himself to say.  “Will have tons of people in her corner.”

“Her?” Wynonna asked, a bit amused.

Dolls chuckled.  “Yeah, like Wynonna Earp isn’t going to have a kickass daughter.”

Wynonna smiled at the thought.  She noticed that Dolls had finished packing his things.  “Hey, are you feeling Chinese food?”

**-WE-**

The next morning, Wynonna ran into Nicole in the break room.

“Hey, are you pouring coffee?” Wynonna asked.

Nicole looked over her shoulder.  “Yeah.  One decaf, coming up.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, so, how are you?” Nicole asked.

Wynonna exhaled deeply.

“Right, I can’t even imagine,” Nicole said.  And, she couldn’t.  She didn’t know how to put into words what she felt about what Wynonna must be going through, so she didn’t know how she could expect Wynonna to.  “Well, I’m here.  And Waves is, too.  She’s been researching the curse for basically all the past two days.”

“Is she okay?” Wynonna asked.

“I mean, she’s worried about you,” Nicole said.  “But y’all’ll figure this out, Wynonna.”

“I’m worried about her, Nicole,” Wynonna said.  She saw some expression flash across Nicole’s face.  “I know we said we wouldn’t betray her trust and I’m not trying to make you, but, Nicole…I’d never hurt her.  She has to know that.”

“She does,” Nicole said, coffee poured by now.  She turned and put Wynonna’s mug on the table.  “Why would she…”

“I get it,” Wynonna said.  “There’s a lot up in the air right now and things are confusing and turns out this hundred-thirty-year-old curse has a lot of grey area but Nicole, I swear, I’m not going to hurt her or the-.”  She cut herself off, unable to even say it in this context.  Wynonna looked away.  “I don’t care what the curse says, I’m not doing it.”

“What does Waverly have to do with the curse?” Nicole asked.  “And the baby?”  She dropped her voice on the last part, though they were the only two in the room and the door was closed.

Wynonna looked at her like she didn’t believe her, but then something clicked.  “Right, she’s Waverly, of course she didn’t tell you.”

“What?”

Wynonna shut her eyes for a second.  That maybe wasn’t exactly how she intended to say what she meant.  She put her hands up.

“Okay, uh, this really isn’t my secret to tell,” she said.  “I’m sorry I said anything…”

“Wynonna...”  The wheels were turning in Nicole's head.  She could see the connection, she could see what Wynonna was saying and what Waverly didn't tell her.

Wynonna took her mug.  “I’m sorry,” she offered, then left.

**-WE-**

“Can I talk to you?” Nicole said, finding Waverly in the building basement.  She had gone through all the files she had and was trying to get some more resources to go through.

“Yeah, sure,” Waverly said, happy to see her.

“Not here,” Nicole said.  “Is there somewhere we can go?  Somewhere…I don’t know.  Somewhere you like.”

Waverly looked a bit confused.  “What do you mean?”

“I want to talk to you about something,” Nicole said.  “And it’s scary and I get that and I’m here for you and I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re not safe.”

“I feel safe with you, Nicole.”

“Okay,” Nicole said, looking around and making sure they were alone.  The archive room was a small and it was a room that Black Badge had taken over, so it had locks.  “Look, I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it.  So, you’re half-revenant.”

Waverly’s eyebrows shot up.  “How do you know that?”

“I asked Wynonna how she was doing and she wanted to know how you were,” Nicole said.  “Baby, are you okay?”

“Nicole, the curse-.”

“Waverly, are you okay?” Nicole repeated.  Waverly didn’t answer.  “It’s okay to be scared and shaken up and…god, anything and everything you’re feeling right now is valid, baby.”

Waverly looked at Nicole and she, not for the first time and not for the last, felt like she really did love Nicole Haught.  Waverly had no idea what she needed to hear over the past couple of days, but turns out what Nicole had said was somewhere on the list.

“But nothing’s going to happen to you, baby, I promise,” Nicole finished.  “Wynonna said so, too.”

“Nicole, if the curse-.”

“Fuck the curse, Waves, you’re more important!”

“No, I’m not!” Waverly said.  “Breaking the curse has been the most important thing in our lives forever.  And if it includes me…”

“Then what?” Nicole asked.   Waverly couldn’t say it.  “No, Waverly, if the curse means something happens to you and to Wynonna’s baby, then the curse doesn’t get broken.”

“That's not an option!  How many people have already died because of revenants?” Waverly asked.  “This needs to end, Nicole!”

Nicole looked at her like she didn’t recognize her, and in a way, she didn’t.  This was Black Badge Waverly, this was Earp Waverly, this was the Waverly who taught herself Latin from library books on the weekend growing up and got a university degree in ancient cultures and languages without taking a single summer off.  This was the Waverly Earp who knew what it meant to be an Earp in Purgatory, who knew what it meant to live surrounded by demons, and who knew on a very personal level all the evil demons could do.  She knew it had to stop.

“We’re breaking the curse,” Waverly said.  “One way or another.”

“That’s not up to you,” Nicole said, forcing herself to.  “You’re not the heir.”

Waverly felt a small gasp escape her mouth before she could stop it. 

She grabbed the files that she found down then and brushed past Nicole to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's a lot happening here, I think now that Doc and Dolls have both kind of chilled a bit, there are both more able to be there for Wynonna which is rad. And they are all a big family, let's be real. 
> 
> One of my favorite episodes of season 1 was episode 4 because it unpacked a lot of things about Waverly's character, like how dedicated she is to breaking the curse and how much she knows and how much she wanted to be the heir and I think that the possibility that the curse would apply to all things revenant and that "all things revenant" would include her would really affect her a lot, but since she's Waverly and she avoids things she'd also still be driven as hell to break the curse. She's got a lot going on, you guys.
> 
> Also, season 1 Nicole seemed say "y'all" a lot so it seemed canon-appropriate that she'd throw around a "y'all'll" Who knows, we might get a "y'all'd've" in the next chapter.
> 
> Also check out my tumblr! https://forsomereason-lampshadez.tumblr.com/


	3. Chapter 3

“You’re pretty,” Waverly said.  “Do you know that?”

“I do know that,” Rosita said, quickly sizing up Waverly before pouring her another drink.  She determined that, yeah, it was still before noon, and she didn’t Waverly all that well, but she knew Waverly could handle herself.  And, she guessed that Waverly just needed to blow off some steam.  She could give her a few more drinks if that helped.  “But, thanks.”

Waverly knocked the drink back then nodded toward the beer taps.  “Has Doc gotten those fixed yet?  They make a mess.”

“I fixed them myself, actually,” Rosita said, and Waverly looked impressed.  “It’s just a basic valve, I’ve fixed valves with more dangerous stuff in them than beer before.”

Waverly laughed.  “What’s a master chemist like you doing in Purgatory?”

“What’s an ancient studies master like you doing here?”

Waverly frowned a bit.  “I’m not sure I can leave.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Rosita said.  Waverly looked confused at that.  “I owed Doc a favor.”

Waverly was going to say something, but Rosita sneezed.

“Bless you,” Waverly said.

“Thanks,” Rosita replied.  “Damn, I’ve got this awful cold right now.”

“I’ve…never had a cold…” Waverly realized.

Rosita gave her a look that was half confused and half impressed.  “Lucky you.”

“Sorry,” Waverly said.  “Just…got some stuff going on.”

“I noticed,” Rosita said.  Waverly gave her a look.  “The day drinking is a bit of a tip off.”

“Someone said something to me earlier today about going somewhere I felt safe,” Waverly said.  “And I thought it’d be here but…”

“Is there anything I can do?” Rosita asked after a moment.  It was only her and Waverly in the bar, but if she could make it more comfortable somehow, especially since it was still a little while before they actually opened.

“No,” Waverly said.  “No, it’s not here.  It’s me.  I’m not sure anywhere feels safe with me in it.”

“I feel safe,” Rosita said, almost immediately.  And she meant it.

“You barely know me.”

“And still,” Rosita shrugged.  “I’m feeling safe.”

Waverly shook her head.  She didn’t know how to explain it.  She knew she wasn’t actually different – she had always been Bobo’s daughter, even if she only recently found out about it.  But it changed things.  It changed things so much that she found herself having gone days without talking to her sister, and that wasn’t something she’d ever thought she’d do again. 

“Thank you,” Waverly said sincerely.  She hadn’t expected it too, but the little chat with Rosita did help.  She put some cash on the bar.  “I’m going to go.”

“Take care.”

**-WE-**

“Did you end up getting the answer you were looking for about the curse?” Doc asked, sitting on the end of the table Wynonna was working at.

She barely looked up at him.  “Nope.”

“You know,” he said.  “I know we do not know much about Juan Carlo, but he knows a lot about us, and about Wyatt.  He might know something.”

Wynonna frowned.  “I don’t really want word getting out that we don’t know what we’re doing with the curse.”

Doc nodded.  They weren’t sure what Juan Carlo was to them, and he knew Wynonna was especially keen on keeping things close to the vest lately. 

“Makes sense,” he said.

“Thanks, though,” Wynonna said, looking up.  “That was a good idea.”

“How about a break from the curse, then?” Doc asked.  “Dolls mentioned a new case came across his desk.”

“Yeah?” Wynonna asked, looking back through her files again.  “What about?”

“About, uh…” Doc stammered.  “Well…”

“Sounds riveting.”

“Waverly went out, why don’t you join her?”

Wynonna looked up again at that.  She knew Waverly came in to Black Badge that day and, though they didn’t speak, it was something.  It was good.  Wynonna didn’t know she left – though, thinking back, she hadn’t seen Nicole after they talked over coffee that morning, either.

Wynonna had wanted to respect Waverly’s space, and she also, to be honest, still didn’t know what the hell she’d say to her.  But she had gone days without talking to her, and that was something she’d promised herself she’d never do again.  It had to end.

“That’s a good idea,” Wynonna said, standing.

Doc looked pleased.  “Well, good.  I’ll let Dolls know you left.”

“Thanks.  Call me when Jeremy gets the blood results.”

**-WE-**

On her way out, Wynonna saw that Nicole was in the police station.  She didn’t stop to talk to her, but it helped narrow down places to look for Waverly.

She tried Shorty’s, but didn’t see Waverly’s car in the lot.  She drove past Gus’s, though she knew it was a longshot. 

Wynonna tried to think about where Waverly would go.  Wynonna tried to put herself in her shoes, but she couldn’t.  So, she did something she’d been desperately trying to avoid – she thought about it.  She thought about all of it, about the baby being half-revenant, about Waverly being half-revenant, about what that meant and about what it could mean.  About what the curse might ask of her, what she would never do, and what the consequences would be, for everyone.

And all this thinking, it did something weird to her.  It made her want to be home.  It was weird because for the longest time, Wynonna didn’t feel like she had a home.  But she craved that feeling of home, of stability and care and safety and comfort.  She knew that feeling through people, now, not places.

Though there was a place that the people that made her feel like that tended to congregate.

**-WE-**

“I’ve got to admit,” Wynonna said, shutting the homestead door and seeing Waverly sitting at the kitchen table.  “This was not the first place I looked for you.”

Waverly froze.  She went to the homestead because she wanted to feel how she sometimes felt there, but she realized she only felt that way when the people she loved were there.  But she wasn’t sure she wanted to see them.  She didn’t call Wynonna because she wasn’t sure she wanted to see her, but that was the same reason she didn’t leave the homestead.

“I think the batteries might be dead on the talisman that keeps revenants off our land,” Wynonna continued.  Waverly inhaled sharply.  “If we’re both here.”

“We’re getting right into, eh?”

“Haven’t we been avoiding it enough?”

“Bobo told me,” Waverly began.  “That an Earp had to bury that talisman.”

“You are an Earp,” Wynonna offered.

“I know,” Waverly said.  “I just…I never wanted to think about him again, ever, and now I have to.  And everything he’s ever done is so much shittier now, knowing this.”

Wynonna chuckled.  “That’s almost impressive, given how shitty it all was before.”

“I thought I was something of an afterthought but, what if I was part of the plan?” Waverly asked.  “If he knew an Earp had to bury the talisman, he could’ve planned to have me be an Earp.”

Wynonna’s jaw clenched a bit.

“And what if I was…I don’t know, insurance,” Waverly said, like she was admitting something.  “He knew Wyatt, he probably knew the curse better than we do.  If he thought all things revenant had to be put down for the curse to be finally ended, what better place to hide a half-revenant and make sure it wouldn’t be broken-.”

“Waverly,” Wynonna cut her off.  She waved her hand around, trying to come up with something to say to settle things but she couldn’t.

“I’m sorry,” Waverly said.  She stood.  “I’m sorry I brought it up, I should’ve been more careful.  The last thing you need right now is thinking about all this, what might have to happen-.”

Waverly cut herself off again.  She knew they needed to talk about it, but she didn’t know how.  It was so dark and scary and upsetting, and the last thing she wanted was to amplify those feelings for Wynonna.

“I’m sorry,” Waverly repeated.  “I could’ve just looked up the curse myself and you wouldn’t have ever needed to know.”

Wynonna looked at her and she finally understood.  She thought Waverly had been avoiding her because she was scared of her.  She thought Waverly was afraid of what she found out she was, and what she thought Wynonna would have to do.  Wynonna thought Waverly was afraid of her, and that just broke Wynonna’s heart.

But Waverly wasn’t afraid, she felt guilt.  She felt bad that she told Wynonna at all.  She wanted to fix it herself, she wanted to save Wynonna the pain.

“No, Waves,” Wynonna said gently.  “No, baby girl.  No.  It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay,” Waverly said, shaking her head, eyes welling up.  “Wynonna all this shit keeps happening to you and here I am, making it worse and I should be making it better.”

“You can’t make this better, Waves,” Wynonna said.  “It is what it is.”

“It shouldn’t be like this,” Waverly said, tears falling now.  “Everything that happened to you, everything you’ve been through.  It isn’t fair.”

Wynonna’s jaw was clenched hard.  “I know, baby girl, I know.  But it’ll be fine, okay?  I’m not going to hurt you, I swear.”

“Wynonna-.”

“No, Waverly!” Wynonna all but yelled.  “I’m not hurting one more fucking Earp!  Not the baby, not you!  I don’t care about the curse, I don’t care what happens.”

“Wynonna,” Waverly said, shaking her hand.  “You need to.”

Wynonna was crying now.  “No, I don’t.”  She knew it wasn’t true.

“Yeah, you do.”

Wynonna looked at her little sister and she knew that she spent a lot of time away when Waverly was growing up, and she’d always come back and be surprised at how much she’d grown.  All those times had nothing on now.  Wynonna Earp was in awe of Waverly as a person.

“I don’t want to,” Wynonna stammered.  She had a hand protectively on her stomach, but she couldn’t bring herself to keep it there.  She didn’t know what to do with her hands.  There were so many people she wanted to protect and no way she could protect them all.

“I am so sorry,” Waverly said.  “I am so, so sorry.”

Wynonna shook her head again.  “Why would this happen?” she asked, sounding so…broken.  Feeling broken.  She’d been through so fucking much in her life, let alone the past few months.  She had finally come around to seeing the baby as a good thing, as something she wanted even though it was chosen for her and she was finally making peace with the fact that, _again,_ the universe or the curse or what the fuck ever took her choice away.  She was finally starting to see a brightness in her future, and then…

“Human-revenant hybrids shouldn’t be possible,” Wynonna said, dropping her gaze from Waverly’s.  “Especially not for the heir.  And I’ve been on birth control forever, I was careful, I was so _fucking_ careful and…why?  This is all happening just so I can have more blood on my hands?”

Wynonna’s voice broke at the end and Waverly rushed across the room and pulled her sister into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry,” Waverly said.  “I’m so sorry.  I meant it, Wynonna, you’re a superhero.  You hear me?”

Wynonna just sobbed into her little sister’s shoulder.

**-WE-**

“We can’t tell anyone about the baby,” Wynonna said a little while later.  After things had calmed down a bit, they’d sat at the table to talk.  “You, me, and Nicole know, that’s it.  Anyone else knowing is trouble.”

Waverly nodded.  “I agree.”

“And when…” Wynonna cleared her throat.  “When you’re ready…”

“We can figure that out later,” Waverly said.  “Once we know for sure what the curse says, we can figure it out.”

“I’ve looked everywhere, I can’t find it,” Wynonna said.

Waverly’s jaw clenched.  “Yeah, me neither.”

Wynonna exhaled deeply.  “I think we might not know until we know,” she said.

Waverly nodded.  She understood what Wynonna meant – they both had the utmost confidence that Wynonna would put down all seventy-seven revenants that they knew were included in the curse.  If that ended the curse, great.  If not…

“And until then, no one needs to know,” Waverly said.  “You don’t even need to think about it.”

“Neither do you.”

They both gave each other looks like they knew they’d both think about it a lot.

“Sorry for kind of telling Nicole, by the way,” Wynonna said.  “I, uh, don’t imagine that talk was a lot of fun.”

“It wasn’t,” Waverly said.  “But I should’ve told her sooner.”

“Are you okay?”

“Are you?”

“Wave.”

Waverly inhaled deeply.  “I’m working on it.”

Wynonna sighed.  She nodded.  “Sounds like a plan.”

Waverly smiled a bit at her sister, then Wynonna’s phone buzzed.

“Oh shit,” she said.  “We’ve got to go to Black Badge.”

“What’s up?”

“The blood around Constance Clootie’s body is Tucker Gardner’s,” Wynonna said.

“What?” Waverly said, standing and getting her things together.  “Explain that whole sentence.”

“Right,” Wynonna said.  “Okay, so, after she raided the homestead we buried her in the salt flats…”

**-WE-**

Wynonna and Waverly walked into the municipal building together, but Wynonna slowed as they passed the Sheriff’s Department.

“Is it cool if I pull Nicole in?” Wynonna asked.  “She was investigating Tucker Gardner.”

“Yeah, go ahead,” Waverly said.  “I’ll see you inside.”

Wynonna nodded and went into the police station, and saw Nicole at the front desk.

“Hey,” Wynonna said.  “Got a minute?”

Nicole eyed her cautiously.  “Depends.”

“Sorry to hear your conversation with Waves didn’t go great,” Wynonna said, leaning forward with her voice low.  “But I talked to her.  She’s okay.”

“She’s okay?” Nicole asked.  “She’s hellbent on the curse being broken, one way or another.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Wynonna said.  “I’m not hurting her or the…you know.  I swear.”

Nicole smiled a bit.  “Okay.”

“So, we’ve got a pretty interesting lead on Tucker Gardner,” Wynonna said.  “Want to come in?”

“To Black Badge?”

“We found his blood somewhere it shouldn’t be,” Wynonna said.  “And since you’re somehow the only person’s who’s shot him…”

“Right,” Nicole said.  “I’ll be right in.”

**-WE-**

“So, we know that the Gardner sisters are involved with the Widows somehow,” Dolls said, pacing.  “And now Tucker is connected to Constance.”

“And he did the bidding of the Widows,” Wynonna said.  “Would they want her dead?”

“How did he even know she was out there?” Doc asked.

Dolls shrugged.  “You two certainly didn’t tell anybody.”

He was just kidding, so Wynonna rolled her eyes.  He smirked at her.

“We found cloth from the Widows at the Gardner house,” Dolls said.  “I think we find Tucker, we get eyes on him, we keep watching the Gardner house, and we hope someone slips.”

The team all just sort of nodded their approval for the plan.

“Alright.  Doc, start looking for Tucker.  Jeremy, come with me to the Gardner house.  Nicole, you’re dismissed.  Wynonna and Waverly, continue work on whatever secret project you’re working on now.”

“It’s not secret,” Waverly said.

“Yeah, it’s just the curse that’s plagued our family for generations and brought you to town in the first place,” Wynonna shrugged.  “It’s not really backburner stuff.”

Dolls rolled his eyes, but allowed it.

Jeremy put an arm around Dolls.  “Two agents, staking out a witch’s house.  Don’t worry, I got snacks that are less messy.”

“Great,” Dolls said, heading out the door with him.

Doc set about working, and Wynonna got to work, and Nicole shot a glance toward Waverly before deciding she should head toward the door.

“Hey,” Waverly called, and Nicole stopped.  Waverly went to join her.

“Hey,” Nicole said.  “Sorry about this morning.  I said some intense stuff.”

“So did I,” Waverly said.  “It’s okay.  Everything’s really intense right now.”

“Yeah,” Nicole agreed.

“But it won’t always be,” Waverly said.  “Eventually, things’ll calm down a bit.”

Nicole laughed a bit.  “In Purgatory?”

“Yeah, maybe not,” Waverly said.  “Hey, thanks for letting me stay at your place for so long.  I know we hadn’t done the two-nights-in-a-row thing yet and this maybe wasn’t how I imagined it, but I really appreciated it.  I appreciate you, Nicole.”

Nicole took Waverly’s hand and smiled.

“I am going back to the homestead, though,” Waverly said.

Nicole looked almost relieved.  “Good.”

“Yeah?”

“That you talked with Wynonna,” Nicole supplied, which she did mean but it’s not the only thing she meant.

“Yeah, it was,” Waverly said, not wanting to tempt fate and elaborate further.  “And, really, baby.  Thank you.  I know we haven’t been together for that long and we keep getting things thrown at us that are really big…”

“We can handle it,” Nicole said.  “I’m in, baby.”

Waverly smiled wide, for the first time in what felt like forever.  “I know there’s a no-kissing rule at work but my boss just left and yours is in another room-.”

She was cut off by Nicole kissing her.

**-WE-**

“These are the last files, the last books, the last everything I can think of that might mention the curse that we have,” Waverly said, putting the last stack on the table in front of her.  “It’s pretty simple, we each have a station, when you finish a material, put it in the station next to you.  When everything you started with is back at your station, we’re done.”

Waverly and Wynonna had spent the rest of the afternoon getting the last of the materials together, and when Nicole’s shift ended she joined them.

There was an odd atmosphere in the room.  The fact that those were their last options to figure out what exactly the fineprint of the curse was was looming over their heads, but so was the possibility that the answer to the question they all would rather still avoid was somewhere in the room.

So, they got to work.  They read and they asked questions to each other and they spoke sometimes, but mostly they read and took notes.  They didn’t usually triple-check work like this, but they all felt better knowing it had all been really thoroughly checked.

They spent hours on it, and soon it was pretty late.  They were startled when the door to Black Badge opened.

“You’re still here?” Dolls asked.

“Why are you here?” Wynonna asked.

“I’m going to stake out the Gardner’s overnight, I need night vision gear,” Dolls said.  He looked at them like he expected an answer.

He didn’t get one.

“Is this still the curse?”

“Yes,” Wynonna said.  “We just want to be sure what it means.”

“You know what it means,” Dolls said.  “Your family has been doing it for generations.”

“But no one has broken it,” Wynonna said.  “Maybe they missed something.”

“You’ve never been this interested before,” Dolls said, looking suspiciously at the three of them.  He didn’t mind if they had projects they kept from him, but they were really protective of this.  It scared him, because he could tell that they were scared.  “What changed?”

“An impending heir?” Wynonna asked.

“Wynonna, I can help you look,” Dolls said.  “We all know about the baby, we can put the Tucker stuff on hold and spend the day looking if you just tell me what for.”

Wynonna shook her head, but wouldn’t hold his gaze.  “We just want answers.”

“What answers, Wynonna?” Dolls said.  “You’re not alone in this.”

“Of course not,” Wynonna said.  “Waves and Nicole are here.”

Waverly offered a half hearted wave and Nicole just sort of nodded.

“Where did you three go the other day?” Dolls asked.

“What?”

“When Bass Reeves was hunting Doc,” Dolls said.  “And Jeremy bound the three of us together.  Where’d you go?”

“Out,” Wynonna said.  She shrugged.  “Just, you know.  Out.”

Dolls looked at the women assembled in the room.  He trusted them all, but he worried about them all, too.

“Are you in danger?”

“No.”

“Is Waverly in danger?” he asked, knowing Wynonna’s priorities.  “Or the baby?”

“No,” Wynonna insisted after a moment.

Dolls saw something flash on her face, and out of the corner of his eye he saw something flash across Waverly and Nicole’s expressions, too.

“I can help you, Wynonna.”

“Please,” Wynonna said.  “Leave it alone.”

“If someone is going to hurt them-.”

“No one is going to hurt them.”

“Wynonna…”

Wynonna wouldn’t budge, but it had been a long day and she hated lying to Dolls – though she didn't see those last few things as lies – and her emotions were fried.

Dolls’ were, too.  He knew there was something jagged between the Earp sisters over the past few days, and he knew that the curse and the heir could be a point of contention for them, but he thought they were past it.

“Please,” he said.  “I can help.  I know just as much as you do about the curse and I know where to look for more information.”

Wynonna exchanged a look with Waverly. Dolls had a point, he was a valuable resource.

“I just want to know what the curse says exactly,” Wynonna admitted.

“It says to put down the revenants,” Dolls supplied.

“Right, the seventy-seven revenants the Wyatt put down in the first place.”

“What other revenants are there?” he asked.

Wynonna had a hand protectively on her stomach – now that she was resolved to not let anyone or anything hurt her child, she felt more comfortable doing that – but wouldn’t look at Waverly.  It was a reflex, both of those actions.  She knew it could backfire, starting this line of questioning with Dolls, but she thought if she gave him something, it could stop things from getting too far.

Dolls looked at her hand.

Wynonna felt like she’d been punched in the chest.

“Doc said he’s not the father…”

“Dolls,” Wynonna warned.  “Leave it.”

“Is that…?” he stammered.  “Did you…?”

“Dolls,” Wynonna said, almost begging.  She regretted asking for help, she did, which she hated, because she did feel like she could ask Dolls for help.  She hated feeling like she couldn’t or she shouldn’t.  But she didn’t want anyone to know about the baby being half-revenant, that put them in more danger than Wynonna could control.  And she needed to be able to protect them.

Dolls heard the pain in her voice, but it was too late to go back.

“Wynonna-.”

“It’s me,” Waverly said, cutting things off.  She saw Wynonna’s face fall when Dolls looked at her stomach, she saw how crushed Wynonna was when they all saw Dolls putting the pieces together.  Waverly hadn’t let herself think a whole lot about Wynonna’s baby, but she cared for them.  She loved them.  She knew what had to happen eventually and it hurt her more than she thought possible, but she would spend every moment until that last one protecting them.

So, she did.

“I’m half-revenant,” she continued.  She was looking straight at Dolls, who looked unsure of what to believe.  Wynonna’s jaw dropped and she looked relieved, so very relieved, then scared.  Nicole looked terrified.

They hadn’t explicitly talked about it, but there was an understanding – being an out half-revenant meant having a target on your back, from all sides.  The curse was still murky, for one, but also the  weird demon-hunting firemen could come after them, or the other revenants, or Black Badge, or anyone, really.  They didn’t want to talk about all the danger they knew the baby and Waverly would be in if anyone found out, they just resolved to never let anyone find out.

Then, Waverly told Dolls.

“What?” Dolls asked.

“I am,” Waverly said.  “I can prove it, too, as best as it can be proven, but just, trust me, Dolls.  I told Wynonna and Nicole and now we’re trying to figure out if the curse applies to me.”

Dolls looked shocked.  “I heard rumors about a human-revenant hybrid,” he said, a mix of amazed and stunned and awed and scared by all of it.

Waverly nodded, tears in her eyes.  It was sinking in, what she’d done.  She hadn’t thought, she’d just seen that Dolls was close to figuring it out and that that was the last thing Wynonna wanted or needed, and Waverly wanted to make that better and…she spoke before she thought about it.

“That’s me,” she said.

“Can we…” Dolls began, unsure.  “How do you feel about tests?  I know you’re only half-revenant but an understanding of what that even means could really be valuable.”

Waverly’s eyebrows went up a bit.  “Okay, yeah.  Sure.”

Wynonna felt sick.  She hadn’t let herself think about what would happen if the people around her found out, but on some level she knew that Dolls would do this.

“She’s not a lab rat, Dolls,” Wynonna said, wiping her eyes.

“She’s the only half-revenant we know of,” Dolls said.  “Right?”  He forced himself to ask that last part, and was almost ashamed of it.

Wynonna bit her lip and nodded.  “Yeah,” she said.

“The only one I know of,” Waverly shrugged, but didn’t look at Wynonna.

“Have you found anything about the curse?” Dolls asked.  “About if it would include you?”

Waverly shook her head.  “No, but, uh.  We talked about it.”

Wynonna’s jaw was clenched really tight now.  She knew that Dolls loved Waverly, but she also thought he’d be more inclined to see her side of things than Wynonna and Nicole’s.

“Are you okay?” Dolls asked.  “All of you.”

Waverly nodded, then Wynonna nodded, too.  Nicole nodded after a moment.

Dolls nodded, as well.  “Okay,” he said.  “I have to get back, but, I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

He went to grab his things and left the three women there in a heavy silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this got kind of angsty? Also there were a lot of conversations in here that I was pretty excited to write, so I'm glad they're finally out. Only one more chapter after this, you guys!
> 
> Also re: Wynonna and also Nicole - two totally valid interpretations are that 1) Wyn means it when she says she's not going to hurt the baby or Waverly even if that means the curse goes on, and Nicole totally agrees with this; and 2) they're both in hella denial. I tried to write it so that it could be interpreted either way, and again there is another chapter of this, so what did y'all think? Also perhaps there are other interpretations that I'm just not seeing?


	4. Chapter 4

They had finished going through their files and they all knew it, but they had all gone through some again.  No one wanted to say they had reached the end of the road.

“Have you seen this?” Wynonna offered, though she knew the answer.  “This thing about when there’s a spell that imposes a physical boundary, there are physical embodiments of that spell.”

“Right,” Waverly said.  “I assumed it was the gate.  Willa went through the gate, everything went to shit.”

“Can the boundary itself be the physical embodiment of the boundary?” Nicole asked.  “Isn’t that…I don’t know.  Too close?”

“Yeah, or too obvious,” Wynonna agreed.  “I mean, it said that when the physical embodiments of the boundary are destroyed, the boundary ceases to exist.  Bobo didn’t try to destroy the gate, he had to get Willa to go through it.”

“Maybe he didn’t know,” Waverly offered, but she knew it was weak.

“That would be a big thing to miss, eh?” Wynonna said back.

“So, what do you think?” Waverly asked, purely wanting to know.

“The seals.”

“That the Widows are after?”

Wynonna nodded.  “What if they are literally seals, they literally seal the boundary.  The Widows break the last one and literally all hell breaks loose.”

“So, we stop the Widows,” Waverly said.  “Wasn’t that already on the to-do list?”

“How do they know about the seals?” Nicole asked.

Both Waverly and Wynonna looked over at her, then back at each other.

“I don’t…know…” Wynonna admitted.

“And they knew Constance Clootie, right?” Nicole said.  “How else would Tucker Gardner know where to find her?”

“Shit, Waves, you really did get a smart one,” Wynonna joked.

Waverly flashed a grin toward Nicole, but Nicole didn’t return it.

“It’s late,” Wynonna said.  “Let’s  all sleep on it, and in the morning we’ll get back at it.”

Waverly nodded.  “Sounds good.”

Nicole nodded, too.

“We can put all this away in the morning, too,” Wynonna said, shrugging.

“Alright,” Nicole said.  “I’m going to get my things from the station.  See you tomorrow.”

Waverly looked like she wanted to say something, but Nicole went anyway.

“Wave,” Wynonna said, stopping her for a second.  “Hey, thanks for telling Dolls.”

Waverly shrugged, but she felt her heartbeat get a bit faster.  She knew that Dolls wouldn’t hurt her, but it scared her to have more people know.

“It’s okay,” she said.  “He was suspicious, he needed something.  I can handle him knowing.”

“Still,” Wynonna said, getting a little emotional and finding it hard to speak.  “Thank you.”

Waverly inhaled deeply.  “I know we said we don’t need to… _think about it_ until we need to, and we don’t.  This kid’s going to have a good life, Wynonna, I promise.  They’re going to be safe and cared for and protected.”

Wynonna inhaled deeply, not wanting to cry in the office at well after midnight.

Waverly smiled a bit at her, but then took a step back.  “I’m going to go catch Nicole before she goes.  I’ll see you at home.”

“See you.”

**-WE-**

Waverly found Nicole in the locker room in the basement.  Black Badge technically had access to the locker room, but they never actually were in there.

So, Nicole was a bit surprised to see her.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” Waverly said, drawing the word out like she was nervous.  She was.

“You alright?” Nicole asked, grabbing her things from her locker.

“I’m fine,” Waverly said.

Nicole gave her a look like she maybe didn’t believe her.

“I am, Nicole,” Waverly said.  “Dolls won’t hurt me.”

Nicole exhaled deeply.

“He won’t,” Waverly repeated.

“I know that,” Nicole said.  “I do.”

“Look, I get this is scary,” Waverly said.  “I get it, believe me.  And yeah, I wasn’t planning on telling Dolls but there wasn’t a whole lot of option.  He knows now, he’s not going to tell anyone.”

Nicole hated the idea of Waverly being in danger, and it sometimes felt like the entirety of their relationship was spent coming to terms with the idea that Waverly would always, always be in danger.

“I can take off work,” Nicole said finally.  “If you want.  I know he’s probably just going to do the tests up in the office but if you want me there…”

Waverly smiled a bit.  “I think I’d rather be alone, but thank you, baby.”

Nicole nodded.  “I’m here, Waverly.”

“I know.”  And she did.

**-WE-**

“Okay,” Jeremy said the next morning in Black Badge.  Wynonna and Waverly had already briefed the team on the connection they’d made between the seals and the Widows.  Jeremy was telling the team about findings he’d made.  “Dolls and I found a scrap of material from the Widows’ gowns at the Gardner house.  We already did some tests on it with, uh, mixed results.”

Dolls rolled his eyes and Doc groaned, both remembering when the three of them were bound together.

“But before  we did the tests, I found some particles on the cloth and wanted to figure out what they were,” he said.  “And maybe connect them to a wearer.  I know we have limited DNA samples, so I was able to figure out that someone who is a close relation to Tucker Gardner wore this, based on skin cells and hair found on the fabric.”

“Like a sister?” Wynonna asked.

Jeremy nodded.  “Probably.”

Dolls looked over at her.  “What’re you thinking?”

“How many people get that close to the Widows and live?” Wynonna asked.

“We did,” Waverly said.

“I mean, you all had to be rescued…”

Waverly couldn’t help but shrug in agreement.

“So, what-?” Waverly asked, but she was cut off by a strange sound.

Doc was sneezing.

Everyone turned to look at him.  Everyone but Jeremy had very confused looks on their faces.

“Bless you,” Jeremy offered, handing him a tissue.  He looked around and saw everyone’s faces.  “What?”

“I’ve never heard you sneeze,” Dolls said.

“I don’t think I’ve sneezed in one hundred and thirty years,” Doc said.

He sneezed again.

“Oh, you must’ve caught that cold that was going around,” Waverly said.

“How did you catch a cold?” Dolls asked.  “And Bass Reeve’s Marshal branded you.  You had a burn, that means tissue died.  How did that happen?”

“I think,” Doc began, speaking more slowly than usual.  He’d had an inkling about this for a while, but now he had to confront it and admit it.  “That when Constance Clootie was killed, her curse on me was broken.  I am now as mortal as the rest of you.”

He looked Dolls up and down, squinting a bit.

“I think.”

“Okay, Jeremy,” Dolls said, looking over at him then back to Doc.  “Get him some vaccinations.  Try to figure out if he has any allergies to any medications before we get him cold medicine.”

“Tell me there’s a cure for the cold by now,” Doc said.

“Not quite,” Dolls said.  “But you’ll be alright.”

“You’re sure it’s a cold?” Doc asked.  There was something in his voice, he was scared.  He was really scared.

Dolls cleared his throat.  “There’s a vaccination for TB now.  And if by some chance it’s still in your system, which it probably isn’t, there’s treatment.  But yes, this does just seem like a cold.”

Doc nodded and readjusted his hat.  “Okay.  Let’s get on with it, then.”

Dolls nodded.  “Alright, meeting adjourned.   Waverly, do you have time to meet in my office?”

Waverly nodded.  “Yep.”

**-WE-**

“Are you actually qualified to draw blood from people?” Waverly asked, nervous and relying on humor.

“Yes,” Dolls said with a bit of a chuckle in his voice.  “And, this is all we’ll be doing today.  I think we’ll just take some blood and analyze it, look at blood composition and DNA and pretty much everything.”

“Who’ll be looking at it?”

“Jeremy, with my supervision,” Dolls said.  “It’ll be submitted under a fake name, I’m going to tell him that it’s from an old case from before and I just came across it again.”

“What are you doing to do with what you find?” Waverly asked.  Her palms were sweaty, she felt her heart beating faster.

“I won’t do anything with it without asking your permission first.”

“What do you want to do with it?”

“Black Badge has left,” Dolls said.  “They think there’s nothing here worth saving, they think it’s a lost cause.  It’s not.  The answer isn’t abandoning Purgatory, the answer isn’t eradication.”

Waverly exhaled a shaky breath.  She wasn’t sure that last part was true, and she had resigned herself to it, but she wasn’t sure how much disagreement she could handle hearing about it.

“So, you want to tell them that there’s a human-revenant hybrid and hope that they let it live?”

“No one is going to hurt you, Waverly,” Dolls said.  “And, anytime you want, we can end this.  We can stop the tests, I can destroy the samples.”

That made Waverly feel better.  She believed him.

“But, yeah,” he said.  “I think that if they see that research is possible, that we can learn from Purgatory instead of leaving it to implode, maybe we can save everyone.”

“And I’ll be a lab rat.”

“I know what it’s like to be their lab rat,” Dolls said, jaw clenched.  “They won’t know it’s you.  They will never know it’s you.”

“You really think we need the help?” Waverly said.  “You think we need Black Badge back?  I mean, we have the Firemen.”

“The Firemen hunt demons in Purgatory,” Dolls said.  “Black Badge stops demon activity in the US and Canada.  I’d rather give Black Badge the resources.”

“We’re free agents, right?” Waverly said.  She watched Dolls as he took the needle out of her arm and put a bandaid on it.  She hadn’t noticed or thought about it before, but her blood was dark.  It wasn’t quite revenant brown, but it wasn’t the red she’d come across when she’d seen other people’s blood.  “You could freelance.”

“A freelance demon hunter?” Dolls laughed.

“Black Badge made your life hell,” Waverly said.  “And they weren’t that great to the rest of us, either.  And we're doing fine without them.”  She shrugged.  “Just an idea.”

Dolls looked at her.  The Waverly Earp he knew that day was nothing like the person he thought he met when he first came to Purgatory.  He underestimated her.

“You doing okay, Earp?” he asked.  “I know this has to be tough.”

“I’m fine,” she said.

Dolls didn’t look convinced.

“Not being fine isn’t really an option,” Waverly amended.  “Not being fine isn’t going to change anything, so.  I’ll be fine.”

“You will be.”

Waverly smiled at him.

“Thanks again for this,” Dolls said.

Waverly just sort of nodded, then left.

**-WE-**

"What do you think about hacking Black Badge files?"

"I think it's a felony," Jeremy replied.  He looked up and saw that Waverly did not find that to be an acceptable answer.  "I think it's a grey area?" he tried again.

"We know the Widows were released from Black Badge, right?" Waverly asked.  "Do you think you can find the file on them?  How they were caught, what they did?"

Jeremy nodded. "I don't know if I can get a whole file, but I think I can get in the system and get some basic information without being noticed."

Waverly grinned.  "Thanks, Jeremy."

**-WE-**

“Hey, I had to stop at the store when I was out so I picked up cold medicine for Doc,” Wynonna said, handing a bag to Jeremy later that day.  “Where is he?”

“In the break room,” Jeremy said, looking up from his lab equipment.  “I made him soup.”

“That was nice of you,” Wynonna said.  She got a good look at him.  “What are you wearing?”

Jeremy looked down.  “Ah.  So, the first time I tried to make the soup, I spilled it and got it all over me.  Luckily, I had my gym clothes in my car, so I just changed into those.”

Wynonna’s eyebrows went up a little bit.  “Right.  That’s a lot to unpack.”

“This is a great shirt, though, right?”

He posed with his hands on his hips, in a superhero pose with the unzipped sides of his sweatshirt pulled back.

His t-shirt had Batman on it, and said “I’m not saying I’m Batman, but have you seen me and Batman in the same room?” on it.

“It’s great,” Wynonna said.  “Oh shit.”  She straightened up.

“I know, I know, but I, uh, I’m not actually Batman.”

“No, not that,” she said.  She actually jumped a little bit.  “Oh _shit_!”

She thought about Jeremy’s shirt and the seals and the fabric and the Gardner sisters.  Something clicked, and it was something big.

“Dolls!” she called.  “Waverly!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mentioned in a comment that this would have 4 chapters, but it's turning out to have 5. This chapter and the next one were originally going to be published as one, but then I realized that they kind of resolved the story without teasing the resolution, so I think this chapter teases the resolution and let's y'all speculate what's going to happen, and the next one shows it. I don't want to just throw an ending at you, especially when the chapters have been building on each other but the clues for the big resolution have been definitely back loaded, so this is the solution to that.  
> Anyway, thanks for reading!!


	5. Chapter 5

“The Gardners are the Widows,” Wynonna said excitedly.

“What?”

“I know we were thinking they were using the Gardners, and they are,” Wynonna said.  “They’re using their bodies.”

“They’re possessed, you think?” Waverly asked.  “More possession?”

“Yeah, I know there’s been a lot of that lately,” Wynonna said.  “But it makes sense.  We know they are involved with the Widows, we know Mercedes and Beth have been acting weird.  They’re not themselves lately.  And if the Widows have them, that would explain Tucker doing the Widows’ bidding.”

“They’re suspicious of us,” Dolls said.  “If we go back in that house we have to be sure.”

Wynonna unholstered Peacemaker.  “Good thing I have a big fancy demon detector.”

Wynonna looked between Dolls and Waverly.

Waverly shrugged.  “What’s the worst that can happen?  We need the Widows to stop going after the seals.”

Dolls nodded.  “Suit up.  I’m going to bring Nicole in on this.  If Tucker Gardner is there, I want a legit police presence.”

They nodded, then split up to get ready.

**-WE-**

“I know we have to put them down,” Waverly said as she and Wynonna got suited up.  “But is there a way to, I don’t know.  Interrogate them or something?  Nicole’s right, it’s weird that they know about the seals.”

“Once they’re gone, you can research them,” Wynonna said.  “I mean, it’s been a long-ass time since the curse was put on Wyatt, there are a million ways they could’ve found out.”

“No one was ever very chatty about the particulars,” Waverly countered.  “Just Constance.”

“Maybe Constance told them.”

“But why would she do that?” Waverly asked.  “I’m working on research on them, but a lot of this doesn’t make sense.”

“I get that,” Wynonna said.  “But I think, right now, we stop them and ask questions later.”

Waverly nodded.  She wasn’t thrilled, but she understood.

“But if we can get answers from them, we will.”

Waverly grinned a bit.  “Thanks, Wynonna.”

**-WE-**

Dolls, Wynonna, Waverly, and Nicole went into the Gardner house.  Waverly wanted to get into field work, and now she felt like was as good a time as any.

“What is this?” Mercedes asked.

“A welfare check,” Dolls said.  “Just making sure you all are alright.”

“We’re fine,” Mercedes snapped.

“We’re going to take a look around, just to be sure,” Nicole said.  “Is your brother home?”

Mercedes shook her head.  “We haven’t seen him.”

Nicole nodded toward Waverly and they went to take a look around, leaving Dolls blocking the door to the room and Wynonna in the room with Mercedes and Beth.

“Enough games,” Wynonna said.  “What do you know about the Widows?”

Mercedes and Beth exchanged a look.  “What are you talking about?”

“Let Mercedes and Beth go,” Wynonna said.  “Please.”

“How can we let them go,” Mercedes began, and Wynonna felt her stomach clench.  She looked and sounded just like her old friend, but at the same time was nothing like her.  There was something so different, so dark about her.  “When they have nowhere to go back to?”

“I don’t know,” Wynonna said.  “This house is pretty swanky.”

“I didn’t mean their house.”

Wynonna squinted at her.

“Tell your sister and her girlfriend to check the study,” Mercedes said.  “I hope they brought gloves.”

Wynonna held Mercedes’s gaze, but did sort of tilt her head toward Dolls.  He radioed to Nicole to check the study.

“What did you do to them?”

Wynonna’s question was answered by Waverly screaming.

“It would look suspicious if they had strangers living in their house.”

“What did you do?” Wynonna asked again, drawing Peacemaker.  She pointed it at Mercedes and it glowed yellow.

“Mercedes had a lovely face,” the Widow said.  “But you knew that.”

Wynonna pulled the trigger and immediately shifted her aim to Beth, and pulled the trigger at her.

The ground opened up and took both Widows down to hell.  Wynonna knew it was the Widows, that her friend and her sister were gone, but she couldn’t stop seeing their faces.

**-WE-**

“Are you okay?” Wynonna asked Waverly.

Waverly nodded, but she was still shaking.  She’d seen a lot of things, but two bodies without faces were new to that list.  “Did you get them?”

Wynonna asked.  If she was being honest, she was shaken up, too.  They all were, it never got any easier.  “The Widows are gone, they didn’t get the last seal.  It’s okay.  It’s over.”

Waverly looked down the hallway and saw Nicole talking on her radio.  She’d been on her radio nonstop since they entered the study, calling for Sheriff’s Department backup and explaining the situation as delicately and best she could.

“Sure it is,” Waverly said.

“You two should get out of here,” Dolls said.  “I’ll handle Nedley.  This is going to take a while.”

Wynonna had her arm around Waverly and she felt her nod.  Wynonna nodded, too.

“Okay,” Wynonna said.  “Thanks.”

**-WE-**

By the time they got back to Black Badge, Jeremy had some information for Waverly about the Widows.

She looked through it; it wasn’t much, but it was something.  It said where Black Badge found them, where they thought they came from, a short list of what they were known to do.

The list was what caught Waverly’s attention.

“Holy shit.”

**-WE-**

“Wyatt went to the Yukon Territory in the 1897 gold rush,” Waverly said.  “Right?  We know this.”

“Okay,” Wynonna said, rubbing her eyes.  She wasn’t sure why Waverly woke her up for a history lesson.

“The Widows are literal widows,” Waverly said.  “Their husbands died in mining accidents in that gold rush, in the Yukon Territory, and they turned to the occult.”

“Okay…”

“They crossed paths with Wyatt.”

“Waverly, make your point.”

“They put the curse on him.”

“What?” Wynonna sprang up (as best she could) in bed at that.  She wasn’t tired anymore.

“The curse was put on Wyatt after Doc encountered Constance Clootie and after she put him in the well,” Waverly said.  “She still was after Wyatt, though.  She pops up a lot in the same place Wyatt is, but this is the only place she crosses paths with the Widows.  She found him out there, she taught the Widows magic, and they cursed him.”

"Why didn't Constance curse him?"

"Wyatt knew she had it out for him," Waverly said.  "I don't think he would have let her get close enough."

“So when I put the Widows down today…”

“You might’ve broken the curse.”

Wynonna took a few moments to figure out how to respond to that.  “I might have.”

“Doc has a cold,” Waverly said.  “He’s mortal.  It seems like when a witch dies, so does her magic.”

“But, like, all the revenants didn’t disappear,” Wynonna said.  “Or anything.  We’d have noticed that.  Right?”

“I think,” Waverly said.  “They’ll stay down now.” 

“If Peacemaker still works.”

Waverly shrugged, but it was loaded.  “We can go find a revenant tomorrow.”

“I mean, if it works, that doesn’t prove the curse is broken.”

“I don’t think we’ll know until we know,” Waverly said.  “But, this is good, Wynonna.  The Widows cast the curse on Wyatt, they’re gone now.  They didn’t break all the seals, the Ghost River Triangle is still in tact.”

“And it’s still overrun by a shitload of revenants and other demons.”

“And you don’t have to put them all down,” Waverly said delicately.

Wynonna looked at her.  She’d never considered that.  She’d been so resigned to the fact that she put down so many people and so many creatures, many of whom looked and acted really, really human.  Many of whom had just made on mistake or wanted to atone or wanted to be free from the curse just as much as she did.

Waverly knew the toll that this took on Wynonna.  She didn’t really know, but she could imagine how damaging it was to have to go through all that, dozens of times.  This isn’t how they imagined the curse would be broken – especially not how they imagined it of late – but this happened.  And it was good.

“We accidentally broke the curse?” Wynonna asked finally, a lot of emotion in her voice.  Part of it was that Waverly had woken her up in the middle of the night, and part of it was the she was probably going to burst into tears at any moment.

Waverly beat her to it, though.

“Yeah,” Waverly said, laughing but also crying.  “I think you did.”

“Hey, no,” Wynonna said.  “None of this would’ve been possible without you, Waverly.”

Waverly wiped her eyes, taking a few moments before she spoke.  “Yeah but you did it, Wynonna.  You broke the curse.”

There was something in Waverly’s voice that Wynonna didn’t recognize, and she realized that Waverly was proud of her.

They didn’t know what else to say.  There was a lot to say; this curse had been their entire lives.  This curse had derailed their lives, had ruined their lives, had changed and shaped and defined their lives.  And they were who they were because of it and in spite of it.  And they beat it.  And they were going to be okay.

Wynonna woke up the next morning with Waverly curled up in her bed, and she threw a blanket on top of her before she left the room.

**-WE-**

Waverly stopped by the police station on her way into Black Badge.  She had a coffee and breakfast for Nicole.

“Hey, do you have a minute?” she asked.

Nicole inhaled deeply.  “Not really, sorry, babe.”

“I figured,” Waverly said.  She put the items on the counter.  “These are for you.  I doubt you had a lot of time this morning.”

Nicole looked up and finally saw what Waverly brought her.  She smiled wide.  “Thank you, baby.”

“Can I?” Waverly asked, gesturing behind the counter.  Nicole nodded.  “Listen, I know you have a super busy day ahead of you and I don’t want to distract my badass, incredible cop girlfriend, but I just wanted to say I love you.”

Nicole’s eyebrows shot up.  That wasn’t what she was expecting to hear.  “Oh.”

“It’s cool,” Waverly said, meaning it.  “You don’t need to say anything.  I just wanted you to know.”

“I love you too,” Nicole said, like it was obvious.

Waverly smiled wide.  “Alright, well, I’ll leave you to it.”  She took Nicole’s hand and squeezed it briefly before heading into Black Badge.

**-WE-**

Wynonna had called in and asked Dolls for the morning off, which he gave to her.

She had a sudden urge to clean her house.  She suddenly felt older, she suddenly felt like she stood up a bit straighter and her back felt better and her head felt clearer.  She felt okay.

She came across something in the back of her closet.  She’d bought it days earlier, completely on a whim, and she’d sort of forgotten about it.

She took it out of the bag.  It was a teddy bear, just a regular generic teddy bear that she saw in a drug store display and picked up.

Something in her head had told her that a kid should have a teddy bear, then she got home and something in her head told her that she didn’t actually have a kid yet, so she put it in the closet.

Then so much happened, and she did a lot of mental acrobatics to avoid thinking about the baby and it’s life and it’s future.  And standing there in her room, holding that teddy bear, the first thing she chose for her child, she let herself think about it.  She let herself think about all of it.

She thought about the little, normal details, like what they’re eyes would look like or how they’d sound or what they’d call her or what they’d be interested in.

Then she finally let herself think about the big things.  She let herself think about how this kid would grow up with a family.  Not a family like Wynonna had (lucky them) or a family like most people had, but a damn good family nonetheless.  This kid was going to be surrounded by people that loved them and this kid was going to be protected and safe and never have to worry about the curse.  This kid, this poor asshole, was going to grow up so, so much better than Wynonna did.  Wynonna was going to make sure of that.

Wynonna took the teddy bear and sat on her bed and she cried.  She just cried.  It felt good, though, it felt like a release.  There was so much tension and anxiety and fear and anger that was finally coming out and she finally was starting to let it go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the last chapter! It's not very long, just kind of resolving everything. What do you guys think? Thank you so much for reading!!

**Author's Note:**

> I think they show is writing toward Waverly being Bobo's daughter and I don't love that plot, but I do think they're going to do it and I think it's interesting to write so I decided to write it. What do you guys think?
> 
> Also, there's going to be more chapters to this, hence the sort of cliffhanger. I think it'll be interesting when Wynonna & Co. find out what happened to Constance, because she did in canon say she knew things about the curse. Also, if it wasn't clear, Nicole doesn't know that Waverly is half-revenant but fear not, things don't stay secret forever in Purgatory.
> 
> Anyway, so that's the first chapter of this. Please let me know what you thought! Also, I have a tumblr! https://forsomereason-lampshadez.tumblr.com/


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